VUSD OKs compromise on honors program

VISTA —— Parents and school district officials appeared to reach
a compromise late Monday night in changes to the gifted and honors
programs at Lincoln Middle School and some parents said they would
withdraw their requests to transfer their children to other
campuses.

At a meeting that stretched past 11 p.m., Vista Unified School
District trustees approved a plan that would limit changes to the
Lincoln programs already announced by Principal Larrie Hall and
vigorously opposed by parents of gifted students at the campus.

In addition, the board voted to create a committee to determine
how to create an honors program at each of the district's four
middle schools for the 2006-07 school year, a move that was also
cheered by many parents.

Hall had developed a plan for the next school year at Lincoln
that would mix gifted, honors and high achieving students into
classrooms with students of varying academic abilities, rather than
segregating the gifted students into their own classes as they are
now.

Under the proposal that was approved by the board Monday, there
would be some changes to the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)
program at Lincoln, allowing "open access" for anyone who wanted to
enroll in the classes. Currently students have to test in the GATE
program or be considered high-achieving honors students to be
grouped in the classes.

Hall could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. He previously
said his aim was to create high academic standards for all students
at the campus, not just the gifted ones.

Superintendent Dave Cowles said the board's decision "takes a
little bit of both proposals," referring to the original changes
announced by Hall and the status quo sought by parents.

Cowles said the board action keeps higher achieving academic
programs at the school, but makes them accessible to all.

The vote was originally unanimous, but Trustee Jim Gibson later
rescinded his vote because he said the changes were too similar to
Hall's original proposal that would have "clustered" students of
mixed ability levels.

Some parents said after the meeting that they would reconsider
their plans to transfer their children to other middle schools, a
move that many had sought in the wake of Hall's program changes.
The parents have the right to transfer because Lincoln is listed as
an underperforming school under the Federal No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001.

As of last week, there were 176 children requesting transfers
from Lincoln, with 136 headed to Madison and 40 headed to
Roosevelt. Pete McHugh, a district assistant superintendent, said
he could not pinpoint the number of gifted students who have
requested transfers, but said, this year, there are 64 gifted
students in sixth grade at Lincoln, 93 in seventh grade and 74 in
eighth grade.

Peter Kuchinsky, one of the leaders of the parents at Lincoln,
said he was keeping his daughter there because the school board
showed its commitment to honors programs as well as some
flexibility at Lincoln.

"We're going to give it a try," he said. "And I'm going to
volunteer on any and every committee they will let me be on. We
never wanted to leave. The easy choice would have been to just go
to another school (rather than fight to keep the program)."

Parent Kim Callies was a little more leery. She said she plans
to keep her daughter at Lincoln for now, but said that could change
depending on how the program was implemented at the school.

She said if the classes are determined by parents who ask into
the program, then her daughter will stay. But if the enrollment in
each class is determined by Hall, then she may still transfer.
Cowles said any student who is unhappy with the program at Lincoln
can transfer to another school before Dec. 1.

"I'm going to see what it's going to look like before making any
decisions," she said. "I want to work with Dr. Hall. He makes it
hard to work with (him) because he doesn't want to compromise. The
board had to step in and make that compromise."

At the Monday meeting, Hall said implementing the honors classes
proposed by Gibson would pose a logistical challenge for the
school.

When asked by a board member if he could support the students in
an open-access honors program, Hall responded by saying: "I guess
you can support anyone if you want. The issue that comes out is
what kind of resources do we have to do that?"

In its decision Monday, trustees decided to form a committee to
study Gibson's proposal to add honors programs in sixth, seventh
and eighth grades at all four of the district's middle schools for
the 2006-07 school year. The district's three other middle schools
—— Washington, Roosevelt and Madison —— do not have gifted or
honors programs. The honors classes would cover mathematics,
language arts, science and social studies.

Gibson said he was glad that the board voted to form a committee
to study how to implement the program, even though he ultimately
voted against it because issues he had with the changes at
Lincoln.

He said he is inherently wary of committees because he said they
are usually ways to kill ideas quietly without board members voting
against it.

However, he said his concerns were mollified by the board
declaring that the committee was set up to determine "how" to
implement the program instead of determining "if" it was feasible
to set the program up.

"One is to determine if it's feasible, the other is how to do
it," he said. "I'm happy we're going to have some kind of honors
program. I just hope it doesn't get watered down to
meaninglessness."